Leslie Pietrzyk wrote about an idea she used while in residency at the VCCA. I heard her talk about this idea at lunch and used it myself when I got stuck. Essentially, you trick yourself into doing more work and prepping for later.

Leslie was stuck. It was lunchtime and she did not want to return to a blank screen with no idea where to go next in her book. Here’s her trick:

So I told myself to come up with three things that could happen, just really quickly: “You don’t have to use them,” I assured myself. “Just type three things really fast even if they sound ridiculous. Then you can go off to lunch.”

Tippety-type on my computer keys—and voila! One of the three things was exactly the right thing to happen next.

Lo and behold, I found myself in the same situation later that day. Before a mealtime, I forced myself to come up with some additional ways the poem could unfold. “You don’t have to use them,” I told myself.

Darned if I didn’t end up with a draft I could work on later.